Tire-protector.



W. GREEN.

TIRE PROTECTOR.

ArPLIoA'rIoN rILBn AUG. 4, trsoa.

Patented July 13, 1909.

.like; the objects tached, and which will AWILLIAM GREEN, OF HARVEY, ILLINOIS.'

TIRE-PROTECTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented muy 13, ieee,

Application filed August 4, 1908. Serial No. 446,966.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, WILLIAM GREEN', a citizen of the United States, residing at Harvey, lin the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tire-Protectors, of which the following is a specification.

i The invention relates in general to a protective covering for pneumatic tires, or' the of the invention being as llows:

The primary object is to provide a pneumatic tire with an armor or outer covering, whereby the, tire is rendered practically puncture proof.

A second object is to provide means for preventing the vehicle from skidding, and a third object is to construct an armor or'tire protector that can be readily attached or "denot in'any way injure the tire.

One of the manydisadvan'tages of a device of this kind lies in the fact that the rotector and tire together destroy a maca am road, oi' the like, for the reason that a suction is'formed by the depression of the tire, which picks up gravel from the road, and the revolution of the wheels or wind tends to throw or blow the gravel away from the placethat it was pulled from in the road; depressions are thereby formed in the road, due to the suction road practically useless for automobiles or like purposes.

A further object, therefore, of my invention is to prevent a suction or vacuum `forming at the point on the tire where thesame is in contact with the road bed, and also preventing the tire .protector from throwing gravel or the like from the road bed.

The foregoing objects are accomplished by making the tire protector'of a series of me.

and the removing of a 'portion of the gravel, which soon renders a the securing band runnin(r therethrough; Fig. 4 is a plan View of a link in attened form.A

Referring now v'more particularly to the drawings, 5 represents the hub of a wheel, G the felly, 7, the spokes, and S the rim, which is of the clencher type, 9 represents the ordinary lpneumatic tire of the clencher type with the usual inner tube 10. The'tire protector is preferably made in sectionsll, 12, 13, 14 and 15, constituting rim engaging members, the latter two-only being partially shown, and it is understood that there may be as many sections as desired. Each of said sections or rim engaging members referred to, may be designated as the rim section, andconsists of a metal plate curved along one edge to form a hook' -16 adapted to engage the curved edges of the clencher rim, as herein shown. It 1s understood that each section is composed of two rim sections adjacently disposed on either side of the tire and engaging the rim, two

of said sections being shown and designated by 17 and 18.

For the purpose'of brevity, only one scction and i-ts parts will be described, it being understood that the sections are secured together by means of a bolt and nut 1U,

which-pass through the'meeting up-turi'xed 85 ends 20 of said sections. Each section is provided along its outer edge with a series of slots 21,'A to which metallic bands 22 are secured, the metallic bands being attached to one section such as 17, and passes transversely over the tire and secured to the other section 18 inthe registering slot.21.

Slidably mounted upon a metallic wire or band 22 are a series of metallic plates or sections23, there being a sufficient number of metallic plates on each band or wire to cover the tire between the two edges of the clencher rim, extending transversely over the tire. In the preferred form of construction, each plate or metallic section is preferably square in cross section as shown in Fig. 4, the four corners of which are bent over to meet at aI point in substantially. the middle of each plate, and al1 lie in substantially the same plane to present a Hat surface to the` tire, Apertures or slots 24 are formed in each plate at the bending points of said plate,4

whereby openings w1ll be formed upon all four edges to permit the bandsor Wires to pass between the two sides of said plate.

rio

-Each plate ispreferably formed 'with aA raised portion or button 25 on its outer surface which button portion is adapted to come in contact with the ground, for the purpose of preventing slridding or sliding of the tire.

, lhemetallic band or wire 22 passesthrough vlic plates upon said bands whereby the tire is covered with metalplates throughoutthe .entire length of said sect-'ion l2, .and it' is of course understood that the remaininv -rim sections are rovided with a series of lbands having metalic plates,`-the same as shown inv section l2, whereby thevwhole ltire is covered.; l

lt is of course understood that forl the purpose 'ofl preventing skiddingf, or for use upon wet, slippery or sandy road beds, it is v `not essential ,that the entire tire be covered, Vas one or two sect-ions would preyent skid-- ding and assuresD Aproper grip -of the tire upon the ground, to a large degree, but the device is preferably used when .enough sece tions are coupledtogether to cover the tire y completely. y

IIt is a well known fact that Iin theQuse of pneumatic tires, the tire is depressedatthe point where Vit is in contact with the ground,

forming a vacuumor suction at said point, andwhen the tire revolves the vacuum draws small particlesy of the road bed, such as gravel, stones or dust therefrom, eventually destroying the road. Furthermore, when traveling at any speed, the tire, by virtue of. said suction, picks up .the Ygravelvand dust, causing great annoyance, not only to those I in the vehicle, butto any one that mightbe behind the same. In constructing a tire protector' that is composed of a series of hollow links, it is of course obvious that when the tire is compressed no vacuum can beformed at the depressed point, for the reason that the plates or metallic links are in contact with the ground, whereas the compressed 'portion of the tire has between it and the ground the portion of the links in contact' with the ground and the inner side ofthe linlrs, thereby leaving an opening between the tire and the ground, the opening being the opening in the links themselves.v For this reason, the vacuum ordinarily formed is destroyed and the tire when equipped with the tire protector as above described will not pick 'up lsmall particles constituting a portion of the road bed.

ln the preferred form of consirnction, the plates 23 are et dieren't sizes and as herein gether.

shown lthe plate QZvisslightlysmaller' than the plates 23, so vas to'bring the plates-parnot be punctured.- Furthermore, toV prevent the tire from being' ,injured `by 'av ,so-'called rim cutf or cracking,gthetire rim plates are extended a considerable dlstancefrom the vrun and have aA swinging or vpivotal,engagement therewith.4 ln case thetire'becomes' l ticularly` along the. tread ofthe'tires, to-y v This is'done lto prevent Vany craw-ling orl circumferential movement f ofthe Aplates relative to 'thejtire and to also coniv. `pletely cover ,thetire'surface so that it candeflated or'in a Asemi-inllated condition the portion of the tire 28, where it is the thinnest, will bear. upon. the flat bearing surface ofthe rim plates, and not upon the 'narrow l edge of the rim. A' flnther fact to be noted- E is that the openings in the links'permit any gravel jor dustfpickedup `by the tire Vproto the ground, therefore-less dust is raised `when traveling with the tire protector'de scribed, than when traveling without the same.

It is of course apparent-that my devicc'is ,y i not limited 1n its use to a construction where- ,in thefclencher rim and clencher tire -isem-f ployed, -as it is perfectly-,obvious that the f series of bands' carrying'- thelinlrsmight be secured 4to any.riin in various ways,.and`

therefore without Aconfining myself' tothe particular means herein shown for securing the vvarious links to the wheel rim and with'- out confining myself to the' particular con! struct-ion herein of thelinks or .bands andthe A'means for securing vari oussections carrying theflinlrs, to each othff, I cla-iin:

l A'- tire protector, consisting of a plurality of substantially square pieces of metal in flattened form, having their corners turnedinward whereby.A hollow plates are formed,

forming adjacent openings in the adjoining plates, and means for securing a series 'ofsaid'hollow plates to the rim ofva wheel or the like, substantially as described,

roov

and, slots formed along the turned ends' lZA tire protector, consisting of two 'or l more rim inembersadapted to be secured to the' rim of a wheel, and oppositely disposed on both sides thereof, a series of plates arranged in rows betweelrsaid rim vmembers transversely relative to a tire, each plate'bel ing hollow invcross section and having lat-` eral openings in the ends adjacent the adjoining plates; and means passing' throughA f said adjacent y openings forA securingjrsaid plates together and to said rim members, substantially las described. Y

3. A' tireprotector, consisting of a series of run members adapted to be secured to the rim of a lwheel and oppositely disposed on i both sides thereof, a' sries of' plates arranged yin rows between said rim .membera'transversely relative to a tire, lateral passages- 85 tector to sift'through the openings and fall 1 through said plates, a metallic band passing through the lateral passages in eaeh row of plates, said band being seeured at both ends to oppositely disposed rim members, and means t'or securing the sections of eaeh rim, member together, substantially as described.

4. ln a tire protector, the combination ol a wheel, a riln thereon, a tire on said rim, a series ot' rim members adapted to engage the,

edges ot said rim on opposite sides thereof, a

series ot metallie plates hollow in eross seetion, covering said tire and arranged in rows transversely ot said tire and means tor securing eaeh row of hollow plates together andato said rim members, consisting ot a metal band passing through said hollowl plates, having their ends secured to said rim members, substantially as described.

A tire protector, consisting of ay series ot substantially square pieces of metal having their corners turned inward whereby hollow plates are termed, integral projee.- tions lormed upon the 'faces ot a plurality ot said plat es, slots along two o'l` the turned ends of eaeh plate forming adjaeeut open- .ings in the adjacent. plates, and means for securing a series ot' hollow plates lo a tire, substantially as described.

lVll'illlAM GREEN.

lV i t-nesses Fnicnlinloli (l. (loonwiN, .lamas R. Orrarmn. 

